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Smog

Too often we report on new studies showing how air pollution worsens public health, often causing premature death. For a change, here's a study showing how efforts to improve air quality in Southern California have boosted public health in children.

In a huge and perhaps unexpected win for the EPA, the Supreme Court on April 29 reversed an appellate court panel ruling that had rejected their attempt to regulate interstate air pollution caused by about 1,000 coal-fired power plants in 28 states.

Unlike the U.S., most passenger vehicles in Europe run on diesel fuel, not gasoline, and from a public health perspective, diesel emissions can severely exacerbate particle pollution during weather inversions like the one Paris is now experiencing.

We've come to expect hight air pollution levels in Beijing and other Asian cities with high traffic levels and surrounded by dirty coal plants, but not in cities using emission-free nuclear energy and lots of bikes and mass transit. So why Paris?

Chinese and Indian cities are known for having some of the most polluted air in the world. You've likely heard about Beijing's severe smog; but in Delhi, where pollution levels are regularly higher, the hazardous air gets little notice. Why?

The admission is the first from a Chinese official that puts a human cost on the country's huge air pollution problem, largely stemming from coal-burning power plants. But Shanghai had good news this week too. Rain brought blue skies and clean air.

With particulate pollution levels well over 20 times the amount deemed safe, and visibility reduced to less than 30 feet, a choking smog brought the northeast Chinese city of Harbin to a standstill Monday.

The EPA's newly proposed rules to reduce sulfur in gasoline may have the perverse effect of making alternative vehicles, that is, those that don't run on gasoline, less competitive with conventional vehicles and ensure that we remain addicted to oil.

After 15 months of 'regulatory limbo,' a proposal to require lower-pollution vehicles and cleaner gasoline nationwide (matching a standard already in place in California) is being advanced by the Obama administration.